Kenya: No more public smoking

A law banning smoking in public places and regulating tobacco products in Kenya came into effect last week spelling the end of a convoluted legal tussle between the government and tobacco firms. The Tobacco Control Act, passed in parliament last year but given a ninemonth implementation period, provided a legal framework to control the production, manufacture, sale, advertising and use of tobacco products.

“The main objective is to protect people’s health and in terms of tobacco, you are protecting the smoker and you are also protecting people around the smoker,” said James Nyikal, permanent secretary in the ministry of public health and sanitation. The ban defined “public places” as office blocks, working areas, court buildings, education institutions, residential areas, places of worship, police stations, prisons, markets, malls, cinemas and theatres, children’s homes and playing fields.

Authorities ban smoking in public But it allowed smokers to light up in “special designated areas”. The law banned the sale of cigarettes to people aged under 18 years, selling tobacco in a packet of less than 10 cigarettes, promoting tobacco by sponsoring public activities and branding of buildings other than those owned or leased by manufacturers. The courts blocked previous attempts to enforce the nationwide ban on grounds that the government did not give tobacco firms enough compliance time and would force them to destroy millions of dollars worth of their products.

Last year, local authorities in the capital Nairobi and the regional town of Nakuru banned smoking in public but with mixed results. Under the ban, violators were liable to imprisonment of between six months and three years or a fine of 50 000 to three million shillings ($46 000). Smoking earned the Kenya government about five billion shillings ($76m) a year in taxes, but costs five times as much in disease, disability and death, according to official figures.

Source: African Echo, 28 April 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/p76yA

Tobacco industries need to be stopped from exploiting loopholes in legislation

Letter to The Times

Sir, A major review by the National Cancer Institute published in August confirmed that tobacco promotion is a many-headed beast, taking in such devices as sponsorship, advertising in shops and the placement of products in films, as well as the use of conventional media displays such as billboards (letters, April 20, 21, 22 & 24). 

The review also concluded that this promotion both recruits children to the tobacco and reinforces their smoking. That is why the Government saw fit to prohibit all tobacco advertising in 2003, and our own research shows that this legislation is indeed protecting children.

The tobacco industry has responded, as the High Court warned us it would in 2004, by exploiting loopholes in the legislation — of which it has found two. First it has invested huge sums in display gantries at point of sale, turning many corner shops into shrines to tobacco and duping small shopkeepers into doing its dirty work for it. Parliament is now acting to end this chicanery.

The tobacco industry’s second trick has been to refashion its packs using holograms, glitzy colours and intriguing shapes and designs that clearly have great appeal to the young. And there is good evidence that these liveries do deliver strong pro-tobacco messages to the young, and that replacing them with plain packaging resolves the problem.

The business world long ago christened the pack “the silent salesman”. In the case of tobacco it is now time to pension him off.

Professor Gerard Hastings

Director of the CRUK Centre for Tobacco Control Research,

University of Stirling and the Open University

Source: The Times, 27 April 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/ermdc

Iran: Over 45% of Iranians exposed to passive smoking

More than 31 million of the country’s total population are second-hand smokers, head of research center of Iran Anti-Tobacco Association (IATA) said here on Sunday. 

Referring to the recent statistics from the Iranian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO), Ali Abdollahinia said, “Over 45% of Iranians are exposed to passive smoking.”

Based on the figures, more than 10 million of Iranians are smokers, who light up over 58 billion cigarettes yearly.

He referred to the increase in the average age of Iranian smokers, and said that over 24% of men and 2% of women over the age of 15 are smokers in the country.

According to Abdollahinia, 3.2% of boy students and 1% of girl students aged between 13 and 15 are smokers.

“On average, Iranians light up 14 cigarettes a day,” the researcher added.

Source: Tehran Times, 28 April 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/gF9a8

Tobacco should be 'out of sight' in shops

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is supporting a campaign to keep tobacco out of sight in shops. In addition the organisation says pharmacists are even better placed than GPs to give advice to patients on smoking cessation.

The RPSGB has signed up to the campaign by the anti-smoking group ASH supporting legislation which aims to stop tobacco being visible in shops and to ban the sale of cigarettes from vending machines.

David Pruce, Director of Policy and Communications at the RPSGB, said: “We are 100% behind the campaign and urge Peers to vote in favour of the measures when the legislation comes before the House of Lords on 28th April." He said research shows that keeping tobacco out of sight reduces teenage smoking, which is often when addiction starts.

“Smoking cessation is the most common enhanced service provided by pharmacies in England and Wales. We’d like to see primary care trusts increase the provision of cessation services where possible to further tackle this key public health issue," he added.

“Pharmacists can provide all the advice and information smokers need to give up their habit and are highly accessible health professionals. Pharmacies are open long hours and weekends when GP surgeries are closed, are conveniently located on the high street and there is no need for an appointment.”

Source: onmedica, 27 April 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/75jxm